Moving is always fun. February passed in a blur as we packed and cleaned and moved our household into the beautiful, two story 5 bedroom house we had found in Barrigada. Now a 10 minute drive to work, life was going to be much easier. And not a moment too soon as Stephanie was in full blown rehearsals for West Side Story with practices almost everyday.

A new house also meant new furniture so a cute little living room set was purchased from Designer's Direct. In hindsight we wish we had researched and tested our new couch set a little more as it turned out to be stuffed with foam chips and now that it's a year old, we have discovered it doesn't hold up well at all. I'm now on the lookout for an upholstery shop that could make new inside cushions for it, as it is a nice little set if it were only more comfortable to sit on!

Cassie adopted the single chair as her computer center, where she could multi-task watching her favorite TV shows while drawing on the computer.

In homeschooling activities, GHSA had their annual Valentine's Day gathering. We met at Yogurtland and enjoyed cool delicious frozen yogurt, exchanged home-made valentines and socialized with each other. Cassie made her own valentines using my Stampin' Up products.

February was also the beginning of a serious get healthy mom program. I started the Isagenix cleanse program and though I'm jumping ahead of the narrative, managed to lose 25lbs in the first two months! Thanks to my friend from Canada's daughter, Chanci.

One thing that happens when you leave an artistic 9 year old alone for too many hours unattended is they begin to experiment and do things you'd much rather wish they didn't do. Such as this little art project I discovered on the wall:

You have to give Cassie credit. She DID attempt to wash it off. When asked why she did this, her pat response is "because I could!"

Biggest problem with this little art activity is we decided to move into town. Gas was getting too expensive and the 45 minute drive each way was taking it's toll on our pocket book, as well as my feet! I had developed plantar fasciitis in both feet from the long car drive. and my heels were killing me. I could barely walk after a long day at work. So near the end of January we found a house in Barrigada that could house our family. It had a pool (defunct, but still....one could dream) and a "suite" that was perfect for Adam to have his privacy. Master bedroom is big enough to act as a bedroom/living room. And a huge balcony outside is perfect for our outside garden.

Christmas 2011 found us living in the Inarjan house. A 45 minute drive from our office. Music production took place in our "library", the addition to the house.

Traditional Short Bread cookies were baked to give away to friends (or to eat ourselves)

My stamping area was organized so that I could be more productive with my chosen hobby and so that Cassie could access art supplies as needed.

And Christmas came and went like it does every year. It was a low key Christmas year. Cassie recieved a box of Trixie Belden books - a re-gifting of her sister's collection. Cassie proceeded to read through this series as fast as she could devour them. As they were my favorite books as a pre-teen, I was thrilled to introduce her to Trixie and her sleuthing skills.

Stephanie, in the meantime was busy in GATE theater rehearsals for West Side Story, where she had landed the role of Anybodys. Adam composed his music. Les wrote lyrics and practiced singing. And Eric worked on his computer skills, designing "skins" for minecraft and gaming levels for his own video games via Game Factory.

It has come to my attention that life has suddenly fast forwarded to mid way through 2013. Whatever happened to 2012? For that matter 2011 seems to be much of a blur as well. I guess we all have our seasons and I seem to have just passed through a non-writing season. I think I spent a lot of time watching TV shows online and reading what other people wrote.

It is important not to let our years fly by so fast without really keeping track of what transpired. So for the next while I'm going to attempt to recreate the lost year, documenting it as well as I can through pictures taken over that time. With commentary thrown in as I remember the events.

Accountability

We have decided to start this journal to keep track of our children's life lessons learned in our homeschool journey. We believe that as parents we are accountable for our own children's education. It is up to us to make sure we prepare them to be active and responsible citizens, not a drain on society. So this blog will be a place where we can share our daily lessons and activities that we incorporate into our homeschool.

About Me

Colleen

Mother to 9 children, 5 on earth and 4 in heaven. Married for 32 years.